What Are You Looking For?

Expect historical adventure built around a sibling-rescue quest, with Roman military life and Fronto’s effort to find his place in Britain at its centre.

This is a space-set mystery about an uneasy journey, a missing cultural symbol and two young travellers who try to help one another get home.

Tally’s pursuit of a musician tied to her family past leads her to Maddy and a love that unsettles her assumptions. Family secrets and questions of identity sit alongside friendship and supernatural elements.

A horse-centred story about a foster teenager offered another home and a chance to build trust, alongside Christian themes and practical horse-related back matter.

This historical supernatural story combines Gemma’s visions and the spiritual world with boarding-school life, strained belonging and an unsettling mystery around the young man following her.

A dystopian survival adventure about Jen and Father, an AI who has cared for her since she was a baby. Their search for a new home brings danger, new connections and a difficult secret.

Look closely at how the street changes from a worn urban setting into a greener shared space, with neighbours helping to reshape it.

Spark’s search involves accepting friends’ offers while recognising that their homes do not suit him. The story ends with friends helping him create a place of his own.

A bleak but lyrical story about siblings navigating unstable care, homelessness and self-invention. Its poems bring attention to the dreams and difficulties of young people without secure homes.

A gentle picture-book quest about waiting to be imagined, finding a friend and feeling more at home in an unfamiliar world.

This is a family-centred story about migration, bereavement and belonging, with Sophie’s own growth alongside Pedro’s uncertain future. A refugee’s experience is also part of the family’s story.

The appeal is a young outsider’s transition into a skilled role, set against a looming threat to his kingdom.

A serious family story about finding belonging amid unstable housing, grief and caring responsibilities, with Cora’s tree-climbing and friendships offering threads of connection.

This is a coming-of-age fantasy about belonging and ambition, shaped by a martial-arts contest, a prophecy and a web of linked destinies.

A brisk period adventure combines pursuit and mystery with questions about identity and who gets to claim knowledge or power. London’s streets and scientific showmanship give the story a grubby, unsettling edge.

A verse-led coming-of-age story about the gap between Addie’s outspoken public self and her more vulnerable inner thoughts.

Expect a fast-moving tangle of romantic rivalry, shifting loyalties and status-conscious boarding-school life, focused on four roommates.

A child who is not believed takes it upon herself to prove she witnessed a robbery; the story also touches on family and belonging.

A gentle friendship story about trying to fit in and finding company. Its upside-down illustrations make Batty’s unusual point of view part of the reading experience.

This is a spooky, folksy fantasy about two girls whose quarrel unleashes a graveyard full of angry ancestors. The story pairs that supernatural danger with questions of friendship, family history and finding a place to belong.

A historical story about a girl’s attachment to a Japanese doll during wartime, and the pressure to choose between that personal bond and national loyalty.

A dark fantasy about a young outcast learning to use her powers, with belonging and loyalty competing against rage, fear and the pull towards harming others.

This is a realistic school story in which harassment grows from insults and humiliation into physical attacks. Piddy also faces questions about identity and family, while trying to keep up with school and work.

A lyrical fairy tale with atmospheric illustrations and a cinematic flow. Its central appeal is the developing bond between Maude and Tony.

This is an animal fantasy built around a quest for belonging and restored honour, with ravens and wolves linked through an ancient partnership.

A camp story centred on an outsider’s struggle to belong, with music and a strand of mystery alongside the summer activities.

A colourful animal fable turns the difficulty of fitting into fixed categories into a story about finding belonging, then facing a choice about welcoming others.

Expect an action-led dystopian story that asks what happens when a society sorts people into fixed groups. Identity and belonging sit beneath the suspense; a romance is also part of the plot.

A fantasy caper built around a criminal boy’s plan to ransom a fairy, with high-tech opponents and a possible clash between species.

This is a comic story about two boys whose efforts to influence their parents’ relationship bring together family upheaval, a school event and the boys’ own changing relationship.

Sticky notes spread around the school, carrying both friendly and cutting messages.

At its centre is an unlikely friendship that brings together two teenagers facing loneliness and change. Their lives involve family troubles, romantic relationships and the effort to imagine a future on their own terms.

This is a football story with a family-move dilemma: Oliver has found a place on his new team and begun to make friends, but another move may take both away.

This is a school-and-family story about coping with upheaval and trying to start afresh.

A humorous-sounding adventure told in letters, pairing an elderly grandfather with his little dog on a search that reaches the American Wild West.

This is a school-and-friendship story about adjusting to a move and finding a place in an established group, with mysteries and bullying also in the mix.

A playful adventure premise pairs a search for a fantastical carrot with a little sister who refuses to be left behind.

Three separate dog-centred adventures offer distinct starting points: Alpha’s life before leadership, Sweet’s search for a Pack, and Moon’s transition after disaster. The collection’s emphasis is on survival and life among Packs.

This is a birthday-centred fantasy adventure in which Tara’s search for unusual objects brings her into contact with eccentric townspeople and new friends.

This is a story about a child facing bereavement, a move to her grandparents’ home and the possibility of going to live with her father in Ghana.

The story combines a teenager’s discovery about her identity with fairy lore and a perilous journey. Aoife’s friendship with Shay becomes important as she tries to make sense of what is happening.

A lively school-set relationship story centres on Becca’s paid schemes to split couples, with a complicated assignment bringing her back into Huxley’s orbit.

This is a contemporary story about a teenager navigating love, secrecy and family strain. Astrid’s imagined connection with people travelling overhead gives her a private way to send care beyond the small town where she feels constrained.

This is a magical romance built around a choice with consequences: Viola has three wishes, while Jinn wants to return home. Their growing attachment makes the wishes emotionally complicated.

This is a suspenseful supernatural-leaning story about Rory, who is displaced by danger; her apparent refuge becomes frightening, and she may never return home.

The story centres on an unlikely friendship that brings change to a child who has felt lonely. Hugo’s unusual interests and independent ways give the friendship a distinctive character.